Seattle Seahawks’ Richard Sherman speaks during a news conference Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2014, in Renton, Wash. The Seahawks play the Denver Broncos in the NFL football Super Bowl on Feb. 2. (Elaine Thompson, The Associated Press)

Good evening, Denver Broncos fans. The Super Bowl train keeps on rolling — so this is a big update with so much of the media now focusing on Denver and Seattle. This is your Broncos Insider Newsletter:

"I AM NOT A VILLAIN," Richard Sherman said Wednesday in the locker room. The Denver Post’s Troy Renck, reporting from Renton, Wash., where the Seahawks practice, writes: "Sherman is easy to hate if you are a 49ers fan. And he’s easy to hate if you want decorum and sportsmanship, believing sports are at their best when Capri-Suns and orange slices are passed out after games. If that suits you, and you don’t like kids on your lawn, Sherman’s not your guy. But is he a bad guy?" http://dpo.st/1bjbdyU

IN HIS OWN WORDS: Richard Sherman pens an op-ed for MMQB: "It was loud, it was in the moment, and it was just a small part of the person I am. I don’t want to be a villain, because I’m not a villainous person. When I say I’m the best cornerback in football, it’s with a caveat: There isn’t a great defensive backfield in the NFL that doesn’t have a great front seven. … To those who would call me a thug or worse because I show passion on a football field — don’t judge a person’s character by what they do between the lines. Judge a man by what he does off the field, what he does for his community, what he does for his family." http://bit.ly/1eZIpzY … RELATED: Greg Howard’s excellent take on Sherman from Deadspin (warning on some sensitive language).

BUT THE BRONCOS have nothing but praise for Sherman, writes The Post’s Irv Moss, quoting Julius Thomas: “He’s done a great job ever since he’s been in the league. He likes to have a little fun out there. I don’t necessarily think there is anything wrong with that.” http://dpo.st/1dTmJp5

FROM THE MAILBAG (mailbags@denverpost.com): Writes Chris, from Denver, to Mike Klis: "What the heck happened to Denver’s defense over the past few weeks? It looks completely different (in other words much, much better) than it did earlier in the year. It’s championship-caliber now, despite a rash of significant injuries (Von Miller, Derek Wolfe, Rahim Moore, etc.). How on earth did our defense improve without these players?" Mike Klis responds in his weekly mailbag (Shaun Phillips gives Klis some of the credit, too): http://dpo.st/1dTmGtm

NO MEDIA AVAILABILITY for the Denver Broncos on Wednesday. Players were off Tuesday as well. The team practices at 11:10 a.m. Thursday, with John Fox media availability at 1 p.m. and open locker room for media from 2-2:45 p.m. We’ll have the latest updates at denverpost.com/broncos.

THE BRONCOS ARRIVE at Newark International Airport on Sunday about 1:30 p.m. MT, with media availabilty two hours later.They will stay at the Hyatt hotel in Jersey City, N.J., practice at the New York Jets’ facility in Florham Park, N.J., and play the Super Bowl at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J. Team Denver Post will be there to fill you in on the latest, with our first crew arriving Sunday afternoon, Jan. 26, and more following that night, then more staggered throughout the week.

Denver Broncos tight end Julius Thomas makes a catch in the fourth quarter during the AFC championship between the Broncos and New England Patriots in the at Sports Authority Field at Mile High in Denver on Jan. 19, 2014. (Hyoung Chang, The Denver Post)

"THE SUPER BOWL IS WHERE … the National Football League’s famed fan noise goes to die," writes the New York Times’ John Branch (who got a graduate degree from CU and is a Pulitzer Prize winner). This, of course, has interesting implications for Seattle’s 12th man and the kind of noise we heard at Mile High the last two weekends. "What the hundreds of millions of viewers around the world may not realize, from the comfort of couches in front of big-screen televisions with the volume turned high, is just how strangely quiet it can be at a Super Bowl game." http://nyti.ms/1g2o3Jv

FIRED FOR WEARING A BRONCOS JERSEY IN SEATTLE? You bet. "Nathaniel Wentz, a 17-year-old high school quarterback and lifelong Broncos fan, wore a Denver jersey to his job at Odyssey 1, a family entertainment center in Tacoma, Wash., after the manager invited employees to wear jerseys to work." Wentz was told to go home and change. His father called, asking to speak to the owner, but never received a call back. The younger Wentz found out the next day that he had been fired. http://dpo.st/1mHViSR

"SEATTLE’S RECEIVING CREW was supposed to have more experience and be considered a strength before the season began," writes The Associated Press’ Tim Booth. "That’s when the Seahawks were expected to have Percy Harvin and Sidney Rice as their starters, with Baldwin, Tate and Kearse filling secondary roles as extra receivers catching passes from Russell Wilson. But then Harvin missed 15-of-16 regular-season games after hip surgery in August and Rice was lost for the year after Week 8 with a knee injury." http://dpo.st/1bjnEuy

Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson reaches for the ball during NFL football practice Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2014, in Renton, Wash. The Seahawks play the Denver Broncos in the Super Bowl on Feb. 2. (Elaine Thompson, The Associated Press)

RUSSELLMANIA in Seattle: The second-year quarterback is enjoying a boost in fame and adoration in Seattle for his game-time heroics. Writes MMQB’s Jenny Vrentas: "[Russell] Wilson told a charming story Sunday night, about how he felt a connection to Seattle even before the 425 Renton, Wash., area code appeared on his phone during the third round of the 2012 Draft. Wilson, eager to find out the next stop of his football career after N.C. State and Wisconsin, had put the names of all 32 NFL teams in a hat before the draft began. The slip he pulled out? The Seattle Seahawks." http://bit.ly/1jlaS6F

THAT’S AN ENTRANCE: What it’s like to skydive into Sports Authority Field in Denver? The guys at the Denver Broncos Thunderstorm (otherwise known as the official Denver Broncos parachute team) strap Go-Pros to their heads, then jump from the plane. View the video: http://bit.ly/1bh5KIE

FIGHTING CAN WAIT: Denver’s Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone was supposed to be in Chicago prepping for a Saturday bout against Adriano Martins on the UFC on FOX card. But the MMA fighter (one of two Colorado natives on the card, along with Benson Henderson) had tickets to Sunday’s Broncos-Patriots game. So naturally he went to the game instead. But after Denver won, he immediately got in his RV in the parking lot and drove to Chicago. (h/t @NickGroke)

FRANKLY, IT’S TOO EARLY TO EVEN remotely predict specifics about the weather on Super Bowl Sunday (we have to wait until next week to get early information from the National Weather Service). But the Weather Channel looks at some features of the overall weather pattern: "First, a pair of cold fronts will bring Arctic air reinforcement into the Northeast this weekend into early next week. Any snow that accompanies these fronts should be light. Later in the week, however, it becomes more nebulous." Note: This is more geared for you weather savants: http://wxch.nl/1dVYerf

Workers shovel snow off the seating area at MetLife Stadium as crews removed snow ahead of Super Bowl XLVIII following a snow storm, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2014, in East Rutherford, N.J. (Julio Cortez, The Associated Press)

EXTRA BITS: We bring you Post columnist Benjamin Hochman in a special Happy Hour edition of "Where are they now?" He interviews Sir-Mix-A-Lot of “Baby Got Back” fame, who happens to be a Seattle Seahawks fan: "He’s been a ’12th man’ since before he was 12, a Seahawks lifer who made a point to bring up the old rivalries with the Broncos and the then-AFC Seahawks. Just how much does he care about the team? ‘Well this is going to crack you up man, but I’m pretty superstitious when it comes to the Seahawks,’ he explained by phone." http://dpo.st/1jwiUY6

Nicki Jhabvala is a Broncos beat writer for The Denver Post. She was previously the digital news editor for sports. Before arriving in Denver, she spent five years at Sports Illustrated working primarily as its online NBA editor. She also spent two years as a home page editor at the New York Times.